Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

  Liudmilla is the first gymnast of the new generation to win AA in the most important international competition in Russia.  The Krasnodar born gymnast was at one time said to be the favourite of head coach of the junior team, Aliya Mustafina.   Source: gymnastics group on VK.com.  Google translate Lyudmila Roshchina shone at the "Strongest Athletes Cup" in artistic gymnastics in Moscow.  🔝 The 17-year-old gymnast became the absolute champion in the all-around and in individual disciplines, winning the vault, parallel bars and floor exercises!  "I am very pleased. There were small mistakes, but they did not prevent me from showing a decent result. I liked the atmosphere of the competition, the full stands helped when I went out on the apparatus. I love all the apparatus, but especially the parallel bars. And, of course, it was interesting to test myself against foreign rivals. In September, the Russian Championship will be held, I want to perform there at ...

 Via Instagram, RGF.  Google translate. Head coach of the Russian national team Dmitry Andreev shared his impressions of the "Strongest Athletes Cup":  "If we talk about the main team, I would like to note the performance of Daniil Novikov. It is nice that he got into good shape and showed himself well at the competition. He has something to improve on; I know that he and his coach are working on making the program more difficult.  We can single out Sasha Kartsev, who has finally recovered from his injuries. We were counting on Mukhammadzhon Yakubov: he was the favorite, but, unfortunately, he did not perform so well. Perhaps he does not have enough experience of performing as a leader yet - maybe his nerves gave in. His program is good; we know that he is capable of performing it at a high level.  Lyudmila Roshchina showed herself well, but Anya Kalmykova's situation turned out the same as Mukhammadzhon's - either nerves or the burden of responsibility affected...

At 82, Rodionenko must wish for some rest.  He hasn’t looked well for years, and it can’t have been easy leading a team which has been less than visible since 2016 (when the Russians were neutral at the Rio Games).   Andrei’s solid work on clearing the way for Russian athletes to compete as neutral was swept to one side by some power or other recently.  That must have been exhausting, humiliating and very discouraging.  I wonder which side of the fence his successor, Andreev, sat on then?  For or against Russian gymnasts competing?  Who will be in, who out?  What is the weather like in Round Lake today, for coaches and athletes?   Melnikova describes this change as a ‘new era’.  During her recent visit to Italy she was keen to emphasise how friendly people had been towards her, and how much she wanted to compete internationally. Let’s hope that Andreev is as good a diplomat as was Rodionenko.  And let’s hope for rest and improved health ...

Andrei Rodionenko speaks about his new role in Russian gymnastics :  ‘Andrey Rodionenko - appointed advisor to the President of the Russian Gymnastics Federation for work with the Russian National Artistic Gymnastics Team President of the Russian Gymnastics Federation Oleg Belozerov noted the high level of professionalism and unique experience of Andrey Fedorovich: 🎙️ "It is such professionals who lay the foundation for successful performances of the national team athletes. Over the years, he has proven this with the results of our athletes at major international competitions. Such experience is always unique, and, of course, it must be used for the further development of our artistic gymnastics." Andrey Rodionenko said that his knowledge and experience will be in demand in the future: 🎙️ "I really want Russian artistic gymnastics to only strengthen its leading positions and set the tone on the world stage among other teams. This is what we have always worked for, and ...

 Google translate, via TASS. Despite a three-year ban from major international competitions, Russian gymnasts remain competitive at the world level. This opinion was expressed to TASS by the senior coach of the Russian men's team, Valery Alfosov. 🔎 "We are very closely monitoring how the strongest foreign athletes perform," Alfosov said. "We have carefully studied the video recordings of the recent European Championships, the main Asian competitions, and even watched the Pan American Games. We study everything, and then tell everything to the guys and other coaches so that they know in which direction they need to move and where they need to improve. The base [complexity] of the programs of our leading gymnasts is high, we just need to improve the quality of execution, but we are not standing still in this component either, and the Strongest Athletes Cup is proof of this." 💪"Yes, we remain competitive at the world level. But it is difficult for me to say ...

Russia’s new head coach of gymnastics speaks about his new role.   ‘DMITRY VALERIEVICH ANDREEV Dmitry Andreev commented on his appointment as head coach of the Russian National Artistic Gymnastics Team "Of course, for any coach, heading the country's main team is the most important stage in their career. I thank the Russian Ministry of Sports and the Russian Gymnastics Federation for their trust. This is a great honor and a huge responsibility, first of all, to the country. We have very talented athletes and the team has a very good potential for victories at any level. And in order to achieve our goals, we need to unite the efforts of all parties - athletes, coaches, and staff. We will work hard to fulfill the tasks set."’

Sergey Lisin from "SE" spoke on the eve of the "Strongest Athletes Cup" with Ilya Zaika, a native of Donbass, who competes for the Vladimir region. At the moment, Ilya has the second difficulty base in the world on the rings, and before the start of the tournament, he told "SE" about plans to increase it. 💬 There is no need to do it now, because the purity and, in any case, high base are enough. I think this will be the maximum score on the rings. Well, and I hurt my leg a little, the ankle joint, I also need to take care of it. ❓ Do you follow the world scene, what other guys are doing on the rings? 💬 Of course. ❓ To what extent are they at your level now or are you at their level, are you close or are there guys who are more stable or have a noticeably higher base? 💬 I won't say that I am the strongest, but I can compete. Especially if I finish my dismount, which is in the plans. Either two with two straight, or three somersaults, but the latter i...

 Via VK.com.  Google translate. Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Victoria Listunova, who suffered a serious leg injury in February, is currently undergoing rehabilitation and hopes to compete in the Russian Championships, which will be held in the fall. The athlete told TASS about this. Listunova tore her Achilles tendon in February during training. The athlete was immediately operated on, after which she began a long medical rehabilitation. 🤸"Recovery is going well, everything is on schedule, everything is as it should be - we are not ahead and not late," Listunova said. "Of course, yes, there are difficulties, but I am slowly and gradually bringing myself up to some exercises, as well as landings or even a push-off. As for the timing of my return to competitions, everything will depend on my physical condition." 💬"The doctors say that the recovery is going well, there are no problems. Of course, there is a desire to return to competitions as soon as ...

 Via VK.com.  Google translate.  The winner of the 2024 BRICS Games in the individual all-around, Leyla Vasilyeva, is performing at the Strongest Athletes Cup in artistic gymnastics in Moscow after breaking her leg, which happened less than two months ago. The athlete told TASS about this. 💬"I did not perform in the all-around on Friday because I was injured and was not allowed to compete," Vasilyeva said. "I was only allowed to compete on the uneven bars. The thing is that I had a broken leg, it happened on May 12 at the competition, when I was doing an acrobatic combination. At first they said that I twisted it, but then it turned out that it was a fracture." 💪"But by the Russian Championships, which start only at the end of September, I expect to fully recover and work it out completely," added the gymnast, who will perform in the uneven bars final on Saturday.It 

Dmitry Andreev has replaced Andrei Rodionenko as head coach of the Russian national artistic gymnastics team. This was announced on his Telegram channel by the Russian Minister of Sports and head of the Russian Olympic Committee Mikhail Degtyarev. 💬"I signed an order to appoint Honored Coach of Russia Dmitry Andreev as head coach of the Russian national artistic gymnastics team," Degtyarev said. "He is a highly qualified specialist with modern views, but at the same time he will be able to ensure continuity and support for the rich traditions of the Russian school of artistic gymnastics. Since 2015, Andreev has been working as a senior coach for the preparation of the national team's reserve. As an international judge, Dmitry Valerievich has extensive experience working at major international tournaments and participated in four Olympics (2012-2024). Since 2010, he has headed the All-Russian Collegium of Judges. 👏I would like to thank Andrei Rodionenko for his work...

Nikita Nagorny has announced his retirement from competitive gymnastics on his Telegram channel.   Nagorny does not rule out a return to professional sports.  "We are not giving up. We are not upset. We are holding on together." Nagorny said on his Telegram channel.

You can read the Examiner article below for details if the FIG’s somewhat disappointing financial performance.  Perhaps you have some ideas how it could be improved?  Live streaming of quals could be one new income stream. In the meantime, my opinion.  Never forget that Russian bank VTB was a sponsor of FIG before the sanctions took hold.    Russia’s withdrawal from the sport has directly reduced income - firstly, no VTB sponsorship; secondly the sport has less entertainment value without the artistic, innovative and technically proficient gymnasts of Russia.  This again affects income levels as reduced spectator interest and the resulting decrease in sponsorship and broadcast revenues. I’m not arguing about the need for sanctions, either way.    Just pointing out that if you cut off the limbs, the body will be affected. https://www.thesportsexaminer.com/gymnastics-fig-2024-financial-report-shows-very-modest-19-million-in-2024-revenue-but-good-res...

According to the Russian Gymnastics Federation via sports.ru.  Google translate. ‘The Russian Gymnastics Federation announces the return of the Russian gymnastics community to the world arena. 🤸Participation of athletes: 🔸Participation in the 2025 Trampoline World Cup stages in Portugal (July 5–6), Germany (September 20–21), Bulgaria (September 27–28), and France (October 3–5) has been confirmed. 🔸Participation of Russian athletes is planned in the Trampoline World Championships (Madrid, November 2–10) and the World Championships (November 10–17). 🔸A preliminary application has been submitted for the participation of Russian athletes in the 2025 Candidates' Cup in artistic gymnastics, which will be held in Paris on September 13–14. The final number of participants will be determined by July 16, 2025. ✍Participation of judges in competitions: 🔹Alina Gusarova and Irina Berek will work as neutral judges at the Tbilisi Cup in rhythmic gymnastics from June 11 to 15, 2025. 🔹RGR Vic...

I don’t understand why Russia would bother to try to register for Worlds,  as they had said they didn’t want individual athletes to take up neutral status.  Russia is effectively banned from competing as a team internationally in all Olympic sports. Via Sports Express, Google translate. ❗Russia has applied to participate in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The preliminary application for the World Championships, which will be held in late October in Jakarta (Indonesia), includes 14 neutral athletes, eight men and six girls. A maximum of six men and four girls can be registered from a country for this World Championships. Thus, at least two men and two girls have been registered from Russia, provided that Belarus has used its full quota. However, it is possible that each country has registered four men and three girls. On April 5, representatives of all Russian gymnastics disciplines announced that they were refraining from international competitions due to unjustifi...

I didn’t rate yesterday’s mixed team competition very highly.  For all its trumpeted strategic complexity, the gymnastics just wasn’t that good. This experiment is one reason that media shouldn’t be allowed to dictate how sports are run.  Mixed pairs competitions have always been a sideline and this one was just a distraction from the historic weight of Euros.  Boguinskaia was 9 times European Champion and now we have gold medalists alongside her who didn’t even score the highest in the competition.    After the AA Esposito will have competed three times across four days with only one break.  It seems wrong that the best WAG gymnast in the competition was made to exhaust herself for this frippery. Personally, I preferred Race Across the World .. I think those two men should get a medal 🤣

I’m not happy about this … the RGF has run a masterclass in what they are calling the Donetsk People’s Republic.  Of the Russian Olympic gymnasts I can see Nagorny there, and Urazova, don’t recognise the others apart from Stretovich, whose Instagram this is. It would be nice if this were an olive branch for peace, but I think it’s more of an Empire for President Putin.   Translation : ‘i.stretovich96 A significant event for the Donetsk People's Republic The Russian Gymnastics Federation held a master class in Donetsk For me personally, this is an important and significant moment. Gymnastics in the republic was, is and will be! Thank you for the warm welcome.’

 Hooray!  British gymnastics has published the broadcast schedule for the European Gymnastics Championships.  They start on Monday 26th May.  Soon!!! 

  ‘Here in Saudi Arabia I have already gained experience in composing floor routines, this was my first experience. I composed 5 floor routines remotely for Chinese gymnasts. And I will continue composing for our team here I really like this creative process. Plus I know the intricacies of gymnastics and I know what will be best for the gymnasts during the floor routines.’ ‘I also try to individually compose floor exercises. to select the movement specifically for the gymnast. the first experience was very successful! Although, I was very worried‘ Good luck, Elena, with this new branch of your increasingly successful career.

Even though I don’t trust scores as a way of ranking gymnasts - especially not when cross-competition comparison is concerned - I found this data from the Gymternet interesting.   It’s still early in the year and many gymnasts have not yet competed.  Necessarily, all of the Russia scores are from domestic - and domestic junior - competitions.  I’m surprised to see them faring so well in a world listing.  Kalmykova is leading AA.  Russian floor workers are back at the top. If Stretovich is right and the sanctions continue for another ten years, such notional thinking may be all we have, even if the Russian gymnastics system holds up and continues producing more elite athletes. You can treat all of these scores with a pinch of salt … it would be interesting though to hear some well informed opinions.   See the rankings at  https://thegymter.net/2025/05/03/the-best-wag-scores-in-2025-april-update/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR7k3DcD29uqegLqo3WbcwaTtH3rWTv0n...

Coach Vera Kiryashova speaks of Elena Eremina’s new life as a coach in Saudi Arabia.   Via TASS/vk.com.  Google translate Russian Elena Eremina, winner of silver and bronze at the 2017 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, has moved to Saudi Arabia, where she now works as a coach at one of the local gymnastics clubs. Eremina's personal coach Vera Kiryashova told TASS about this. 💬"Lena has been working in Saudi Arabia since February. She signed a contract with one of the local clubs, where she trains both girls of different ages and adults," Kiryashova said. "She has a work visa, Lena can travel with her gymnasts to competitions and training camps around the world. Of course, she shared her impressions of working there with me. In principle, everything is going well for Lena, despite the fact that there are certain specifics in working with local athletes. She is already planning to bring her gymnasts to Russia, to our training camp in Pushkin." 💬"Arti...

This is an interesting interview, if rather long.  You can auto translate captions into English. Interesting that Stretovich implies that his local region is expecting Russia to be out of international competition for ten to fifteen years.  This is mainly Stretovich’s personal opinion, and he says he knows it is very unpredictable (‘like sitting on a powder keg’).  But Siberia is putting its efforts into the youngest generation; no point preparing interim generations, he seems to say.   https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR7mmZJ9dREm5I5MHhQaRsZIZ0ZvzlJzzkxPR_l5zs5vCufsfgQnruYcv-0R3Q_aem_4W17x7Y-zUJDlM1YTR_OEQ&si=fJrsSfHjUd2qDahy&v=vQxj84h1K6M

"I was in complete shock, I cried." Listunova on the causes of her Achilles tendon rupture Gymnast Listunova spoke about the causes and circumstances of her injury. Sergei Lissin, Sports Express The Olympic champion will do everything to return. On December 7, 2024, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics in the team event Victoria Listunova competed at the Voronin Cup, her first major tournament after the athlete sustained a back injury, which forced her to miss the BRICS Games. Then, in early February, she went to Italy to participate in the national club championship and scored 53.650 in the all-around at the very beginning of the season, the same as the Paris Olympic champion on the uneven bars Kaylia Nemur. At the end of February, it became known that Victoria had a new and very serious injury - an Achilles rupture. As a result, instead of performing at the Russian Cup, the athlete came there as a guest, was present in the hall all days of the finals, afte...

 I can share with you the letter dated 30 April.  The image quality is poor, but if you take your time you will be able to read it.   The reason for the review is not only Melnikova's registration as a candidate in Voronezh's regional elections, but also some fundraising events she has taken part in; and a picture of her with a 'Z' symbol, from the early part of the war. It seems that since Russia withdrew its gymnasts from competition - just a few weeks ago - opinions have hardened in favour of the War.  Melnikova has retained her silence, but others in the gymnastics community are speaking out in favour of Russia.   I'll not support these ideas.  But it's very easy for governments to influence their people.  Britain left the European Union on the back of some very questionable campaigning by leading politicians only a few years ago.  Donald Trump's government meetings are a quagmire of sycophantic nonsense as he destroys the world econ...

  War and violence are taken to be the domain of men, in the main … but women suffer too. The Russian female gymnasts are showing a few bruises.    Our ‘new generation’ of Kalmykova, Vasilieva, Roschina, Andreeva and others look well trained, but the lack of opportunity for overseas competition must be a severe disappointment.   24 year old Melnikova has commented that her career has crossed some very interesting times … the doping scandal with all its uncertainty, leading to neutral competition status for the team, Covid and the postponement of competitions, if not a battle with the illness itself for some individuals; and, now, the war with Ukraine, leading to sanctions against Russian competitors.    Finally, Russia’s rather pointless decision to ban themselves from competition as a kind of ‘protest’ against the neutral status they were seeking for so many of their team members.   The fact that Melnikova could carry away individual and tea...